We were led to the waxing room. It was a small one but surprisingly cozy. Karess was asked to lie down and relax on the bed while Normie, her beautechnician prepared the honey wax they were going to use.

Honestly, I haven’t seen anyone get their eyebrows waxed before, so I don’t really know how it works. What Normie did was put the wax on a cotton swab for precision. We didn’t want too much eyebrows removed, after all. Karess wanted to have her natural eyebrow shape retained, and only have stray hair strands cleaned.

Our faces are sensitive, of course, and out eye area are even more so. So accuracy was necessary when dealing with sticky wax on the eyebrows, and I was glad to see that it was done properly.

Karess, of course, can’t help but look.

Note to waxing newbies: take a deep breath in preparation, and then exhale in a puff as the waxing strip is quickly pulled. The quicker the strip is pulled, the less it is. Believe me, exhale when it’s pulled; not inhale. Inhaling makes you tense even more. I know from three years of having my legs waxed.

It was over in 5 minutes. Karess, who is used to having her eyebrows threaded, was pleasantly surprised at how fast waxing was. Actually, she’s now convinced to switch over to waxing regularly. Yey!

I, on the other hand, have been shaving my eyebrows. Maybe I should try eyebrow waxing at Flawless, too, ei?

I didn’t get anything done tonight, but I bought some toner to try

Eyebrow waxing at Forever Flawless is P250.00.

Forever Flawless is located at the 3/F East Wing of Robinsons Galleria

Beauty and Butter has a myriad of colors to choose from; they have this whole shelf of colorful nail polish bottles!

They also have dozens and dozens of nail art designs on display.

And an album for me to choose from. I didn’t even dare count how many designs they had.

I, however, chose to get classic French tips. Haha!That’s the most artistic I could get. I chose #24, my favorite brownish pink polish at Beauty & Butter, from the palette they had. I love how they really look like nails!

With the choice done, I picked my spot, and Cris and Fhe, my buttercups for the day, set to work.

It was nice to see Tinay, one of the buttercups who attended to me before. See, that’s the thing with Beauty and Butter. Not only do you get awesome treatments, you also have buttercups who geuinely care for your hands and feet, and even remember your face! It makes the experience so fun.

And add the colorful room to the mix, and that sets Beauty and Butter apart from the rest, I think.

It was almost closing time, so it was just me and the buttercups

Here’s another thing I love about Beauty & Butter: they have super nail polish dryers! I’m not sure where they got them, but they apply a bit of heat to the nail polish, while a couple of high-powered fans blow air to dry the newly-applied polish. After a few minutes, I was are good to go, and I don’t need to be extra conscious of my nails.

Side note: I ran into the rain to get home after my treatment, but when I got home, my toenail polish was still PERFECT. If that doesn’t say something about quality, then I don’t know what will. Haha!

Get your nails French tipped at Beauty and Butter for only P250. (P250 for hands, and then another P250 for feet, if desired. I had my toes just painted with my base color.)

Fact: I wasn’t skinny at certain points in my life. I think it was around after college. And then I began losing pounds this year.

Fact: some parts of my body haven’t been notified that I have gotten skinny.

Fact: I don’t really care. Not enough to stop eating, that is. I don’t even care enough to start going to the gym, either.

But when I got the chance to try the Ultra Lift Treatment at Forever Flawless, I thought, “Hey, why not?” So I went to Mall of Asia, where my favorite Flawless branch was, to try it out.

Some of the Flawless MoA staff: April, Arlene, Lanie and Glen

The Ultra Lift Treatment is the only non-invasive treatment with FDA approval for skin tightening via wrinkle treatment. The device uses combined bi-polar radio frequency and light energies to precisely heat the dermal tissue within the targetted area. This stimulates the collagen production and producing a firming effect in lax skin.

Or, to put it simply, the machine melts the unnecessary fat in the treated area.

The Nano RF machine

First, a gel is put on the targetted area. It serves as a lubricant for the machine, but it’s also the medicine that seeps into the skin. Then, a metal plate is placed under my back in order to keep me grounded. (Remember, we are talking about electric waves here.) When the actual procedure began, it’s sort of like getting an ultrasound check-up. Only, it’s hot instead of cold. Glen, the girl who attended to me, carefully monitored the heat if it was getting too hot for me. It’s important that I should feel the heat, she said, but it shouldn’t be too much of a discomfort.

The procedure only lasted for 20 minutes. I didn’t feel the results instantly, but I did see it in the mirror a bit.

The Ultra Lift Treatment is best for mothers who just gave birth, or plus size ladies who would like to trim their silhouettes. Forever Flawless emphasizes, though, that while their treatments help us get slim, it’s still up to us to maintain a healthy lifestyle and maintain our figure. I thought it was awesome for Flawless to point that out.

You know that this means, don’t you? It means I’m going back to swimming! I hope there are less people in our swimming pool now.

Okay, let’s get this straight: I know that the heat can relax our muslces and nerves—I know this well; I like having hot baths—but I couldn’t quite get how hot, molten WAX can be relaxing. To be honest, it sounded a bit scary to me.

But, there I was at Beauty and Butter, trying out the Hand and Foot Paraffin. I mean, other people have done it, so it couldn’t be that bad, right? But down to the last second, after the buttercups attending to me have cleaned my feet and were holding my foot above the wax, I was skeptical. After all, if I wanted to relax my hands, I could just shake them loose, or someone to massage them, and I could always just put my feet up if I wanted to relax my feet.

But all that disappeared from my mind when my feet touched, and eventually got dipped, in the mint wax. The only thought in my head was, “Oh, wow, that feels gooooooooooood.”

Mint wax for the win!

Each dip was for just about a second, but it was like all my senses focused on the relaxing heat on my feet. On the heat, and on the mint scent wafting to my nose. I LOVED IT. It was nice how sensitive the buttercups were, asking me if I was ready to dip my foot again. See, the treatment included three to four dips, with three second intervals. It felt just right, and by the time both of my feet were done, I had a rather goofy smile on my face. Haha!

My hands were the same, only they used a milk dip instead of the mint one.

After each set of dips, the finished foot or hand gets wrapped in a plastic wrap, and put into a mitt to rest for 20 minutes. (Just enough time to see Cher realize that she was in love with Josh.) And after that, the wax is peeled off, taking my dry skin cells with it.

Hand and foot parffin treatments also include manicure and pedicure afterwards. It felt so nice to be pampered by sweet buttercups after a tiring day.

If your hands and feet are in dire need of relaxation, I say go and treat yourself to a paraffin treatment at Beauty and Butter. I can just imagine how glorious it would be to get it after a Hand and Foot Scrub!

Beauty and Butter has branches in SM Lazaro, SM Mall of Asia, and SM Megamall Atrium.

To be honest, I haven’t paid much attention to Flawless before, since I never really was one to look into beauty services very much, unless that beauty service was the basic haircut, manicure and pedicure, leg wax, or massages. I used to have facials, but I stopped getting those when I started on Mary Kay. Paraffin treatments? Peeling? Nope, never tried them. Medical cosmetic procedures? Ohoho ABSOLUTELY NOT. Except that keloid removal procedure I got when I was 11, but that’s a completely different matter altogether.

But, recently, Flawless invited several bloggers to join a writing contest about their services. So I said, “Hey, why not?”

“I hope you know what you’re doing”
As I browsed through the services on their website, I decided to try something I wouldn’t have tried on normal circumstances. So, predictably, that narrowed my options down to medical procedures.

I’m still a little uncomfortable with trying out any slimming procedure, non-invasive or otherwise, so I went for the Flawless Laser Hair Removal service, after some research about its safety and its possible complications, of course. I’ve always been curious about hair removal using laser, but I’ve never tried it because I thought it was mighty expensive.

I had 36 Flawless branches to choose from, but I decided to go to the one in Mall of Asia, partly because I had another appointment near there, and partly because the branch nearer to my apartment is ALWAYS fully booked.

I simply cannot explain it, but the moment I entered the doorway, I felt relaxed, refreshed, and beautiful already. And, believe me, I am NOT saying this just because there’s a contest. It’s for real. I think it’s because everyone greeted me cheerfully as if I was a long time friend. From the guard to the receptionist to the assistants to the therapists who happened to pass by, every single one of them were all wearing warm, sincere smiles as if they haven’t been working for a full day already. Because of that, my waiting time of about 10 minutes seemed like seconds. My doctor had to step out for a quick lunch. At 6 PM.

Eventually, I was ushered into a room to prepare for the procedure. Lannie, the aestheticologist (I hope I got that right!) that assisted me, gave a brief introduction of the procedure, but she left the technical stuff to the doctor, who arrived not long after I’ve settled on the bed. Dr. Castillo is a certified dermatologist (thank God) and explained the procedure in detail without going too technical at the same time. I love how that ensured me that she knew what she was doing, and since now I also knew what she was going to do, I became more confident that everything’s going to be okay.

And this confidence came especially handy when the doctor put a shield over my eyes to protect them from the laser. Being sightless could be pretty scary, so it’s a good thing my doctor had light hands, and kept talking to me gently to keep me relaxed.

Please don’t give me no ouchies
Contrary to what I expected—forgive me, but I always equated laser to guns and think red lights burning through metal—the procedure was painless. Sure, there were one or two times when the laser gave me a quick jolt, but the uncomfortable feeling was gone as quickly as it came. It didn’t even last a second, and the only thing that actually reacted to the momentary discomfort was one of my eyebrows. Haha! Five minutes later, my doctor was removing my protective glasses, and I was sitting up, and I was saying, “Uh…That’s it?”

Honestly, I had to look at the treated skin to make sure that they did something, True enough, the hair follicles on my skin looked lighter, as if there was never hair there. Dr. Castillo told me, though, that some hair will still grow after a while. After all, permanent hair removal doesn’t actually exist yet. She says follow-up treatments are needed about every month. By the eighth or tenth month, though, hair growth usually slows down significantly.

Here come the details
I was so happy with my procedure, I immediately asked the receptionist, Arlene more about Flawless’ service. Arelene happily answered all my questions, and gave me a brochure to help me remember everything we talked about. According to the brochure, the Flawless Laser Hair Removal uses the Light Sheer Diode System.

The Light Sheer Diode System, which is considered the gold standard in effective hair removal, uses a patented Chill Tip, which cools the area that’s being treated, thereby effectively lessening any discomfort and pain.

Well, that completely explains why my experience was painless! Unlike waxing, which is pretty painful, especially on your first time. For more detailed information about Light Sheer, go on ahead and visit the Flawless website. The information there was really helpful when I was still deciding whether or not I was going to try it.

Show me the money
I’m not going to lie: laser hair removal is still rather expensive. But the procedure is fast and painless, and the result is much prettier than getting waxed. And get this: Flawless offers a lifetime hair removal packages. Check it out.

It’s not loose change, but, if you look closely, getting a Lifetime Package is much, MUCH more practical than paying per session. Consider it an investment.

And, as an added incentive, spending at least P1,200 at any Flawless branch qualifies you for a chance to win a Louis Vuitton bag! Flawless is raffling off one every month from now until December. And then on Christmas, they’ll be giving away a one-carat diamond necklace.

So am I going to get me lasered regularly? I want to, yes. But I still have to save up for it, though. But if it fits your budget, I say GO FOR IT! I would!

I’ve been hearing about Elianto from several people around me for a while now, but I’ve never really tried it. But since Elianto decides to be extra generous this May, I’m hoping I get to finally try it.

Elianto and Kikay Corner are holding a blogging contest from now until June 15th, and up for grabs is P1,500 worth of Elianto Eyeshadow Palette x 7, which is composed of a pressed powder, 6 eyeshadows and eyeshadow brush.

From the looks of it, the palette will fit my skin tone nicely, according to make-up advice I got from someone I consulted with. And I seriously need a new eyebrow brush. And with me having photo shoots for fun, I think this new kit should come in handy.

I wanna try Elianto. And I should win this contest, yes?

But I don’t really need to dish out P150 just to have my bangs fixed.

Or so I thought.

So here’s the thing. My bangs have grown long, reaching past my cheekbones. They keep getting into my eyes, but I can’t tie them back with the rest of my hair into a ponytail yet, and I’d have to use several pins to keep them in place. And then the pins always slide off, anyway, so I have to fix them several times in an hour.

All you people wishing that your hair was super smooth? DON’T.

I was getting particularly irritated with my bangs the other night, so I decided that I needed to do something about it. I looked around, and, there, within my reach, was my pair of sewing shears.

I think you already know what this means.

Ten years ago when I was in high school, I had cut my hair short, and gave myself bangs in the process. It turned out real nice, actually, that people actually thought I went to the salon to get a haircut. So, the other night, I figured I could do the same thing. Fix my bangs, I mean.

The goal:

I’ve always liked Sandra Bullock. You?

Looked easy enough. And, like I said, I’ve already cut my own hair before. So, with a steady hand and a determined look, I took hold of my long bangs, wielded my shears and gave my hair a resounding SNIP.

As two-inch-long locks of hair fell to the floor, I thought: Oops.

The result:

HAHA! I looked to so hilarious, I didn’t even have time to regret cutting my hair off and instead went straight to laughing at myself. (I did regret it a few minutes later, though.) Karess says I looked like some sort of Japanese doll. Not quite the look I’m going for, but…yeah. I think the last time I had bangs like this was when I was six years old.

I wish I can say that, even though I cut it too short, my bangs will still look fine. But they look a bit jagged if I don’t comb it down properly, as seen in the photo above, so I had to do something to fix it. Again. Good thing that I can still sweep my short bangs to the side a bit, so if you didn’t look close enough, the short bangs won’t be so obvious.

This’ll do, I suppose.

And, that, children, is why we have hairstylists, as Sara told me when I announced this experiment on Plurk.

Also, keep sewing shears in the sewing kit. NOT within reach of an irritated girl.

If anybody’s wondering: yes, the two above photos of me were taken on the same afternoon. I just changed venues. Hehe.

But today, I decided to do it. (Ah, yes, I have a lot of “but today…” activities, don’t I?)

Red jacket from my aunt’s closet. White turtleneck from…our office uniform. Jag jeans from a factory outlet along Libertad Mandaluyong – 120Php.  Brand new Naturalizer shoes, also from my aunt’s closet – P1000.

I was ready to get jokes along the lines of,  “uhuhuy~, Christmas colors, eh?” But, pleasantly enough, most people liked my bright red jacket, and gave no jokes. Nice.

Ah, I could just imagine how my hair fell from the blades down to the floor.

I sort of felt like Akane in the 9th episode of Ranma 1/2, only without the anger and the shock, since I did know that I was actually getting a haircut, whereas Akane’s long, deep blue locks were unceremoniously chopped off in the midst of a battle between two rival martial artists. But the thing is: even though I knew (and paid for) a haircut, I didn’t know what I was going to look like afterward. I had no mirror in front of me, and, even though my hairdresser told me (while snipping my hair off) that I was getting an apple cut, I had no idea what on earth an apple cut was. But judging from the location of the scissors, and how the cool air brushed the back of my neck, I was guessing that it was probably short.

After my hairdresser was done, he gave me a mirror, and, true enough, it was short. Really short. But, I’m not complaining (after the shock wore off). After all, my hair looked MUCH better than it did in second year high school when I cut my own hair. Haha! I gotta look for my high school photos sometime.

Before:

	Taken using a camera phone in our dark condo. I think this was around October?
	Here’s me last month, attempting to look stoic/antagonistic. I kept my most of my longer hair behind my back.

And now:

Ta-dah!

Some of my officemates got shocked, and most didn’t even recognize me (and then when they did, they got shocked). I mean, like, gasp-and-openly-stare-for-5-full-seconds kind of shock. It was kind of funny, but I guess it was understandable. I mean, I’ve had long hair for the longest time. Some people say that my hair was one of my best physical attributes. And a girl’s hair is her crowning glory. Her life, as the Ranma 1/2 episode title goes.

But, see, I’ve noticed that the last quarter of 2009 has been a time of change and experimentation. I’ve adopted a new diet (I never thought I’d enjoy eating cereals in the evening), I’ve got a new brand of cosmetics and hygiene, and, yes, I’ve even been shopping in thrift stores and updating my wardrobe. Which is a big thing, because anyone who knows me knows that I hate shopping. And now this.

I guess a girl’s hair IS her life. Not that her life revolves around her hair, but more like the other way around. I didn’t do it in purpose, but maybe, in an unconscious level, I got myself a totally new haircut because I’ve got several totally new, totally un-Sarah plans for 2010. I’m not sure which of those I’ll actually do, though. Haha!

So, yeah. We’ve got 20 days left in the year. Let’s see what happens in 2010.

For 45 years, Mary Kay has helped women all over the world look great, feel great and achieve their dreams. And now it’s your turn. From super-effective skin care that includes products for a fair, even complexion to on-trend makeup to body care that pampers and protects, you get customized beauty routines that fit your needs. And you can get the ultimate in customer service from your very own Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant.

This June, Mary Kay will be holding a Skin Care Class for 20 bloggers, inclusive of personal skin assessment, facial and consultation.
Date: June 10, 2009
Time: 6pm-8pm
Venue: Pasong Tamo Extension, Makati City

Again, this is a free thing, but slots are limited. Sign up now!

EDIT: THE JUNE 10 SESSION IS FULL AS OF JUNE 8, 10 PM. Registrant afterwhich may have a session on June 11. Thank you,

It’s funny that I should be one to organize a beauty bloggers’ event. I was never one to be fussy about my face, but recently I realized that that had to change haha. Enter Mary Kay to help me with just that. (Grah I should write a blog post about that whole experience.)

//EDIT This event is now closed. Many thanks to everyone who joined!